I have been assuming that he wrote his own posts on the assumption that even his core supporters in his top admin aren’t dumb enough to write that shit.
Seems like a bad assumption. At least based on the stuff they say in public on their own behalf.
It's been obvious for some time that many (most?, virtually all?) of the Truth Social posts are written by someone else. Too many long sentences, too many big words, too long, just flat out too many posts. Which also may explain the use of the third person, althouth Trump has taken to doing that when speaking.
At minimum, Trump rants about something, a minion writes it down, cleans up the wording, and enters it -- which I would guess is what happened, at least in part, with the Rob Reiner post. More often, someone else drafts a post, reads it to Trump to get his approval, and then posts it. And sometimes (for example the middle of the night posts) someone just echoes his style. Albeit with better syntax and a far bigger vocabulary than Trump ever uses.
marching band is seen as a ‘girly’ thing in Japan.
When I was in college (late '60s), the Cal Band was still men only. I knew several women who had been in their (California) high school marching band, and were seriously miffed that they were excluded.
So, she failed to bring prosperity, which Brexit was (in some universe, I suppose) certain to bring. And now the economic mess that Brexit predictably did bring is an existential threat to the nation, and it's all the other guys' fault.
Somehow, to an American, it all sounds so terribly familiar. Except that she isn't bringing billions into her personal account while the country goes down the tubes. Rather irritating for her, one might suspect.
the combining of roman letters and kanji is pretty fascinating and shows how integrated the writing systems are becoming
I have seen kanji and kana, of course. And romanji. But a combination of kanji and romanji is a new one. Perhaps it has emerged in the years decades since I studied the language....
If your opinion-poll numbers are tanking, start a war you can win.
In the abstract and in principle, Venezuela should be an easy win. With these morons in charge, a whole lot of people (US troops as well as Venezuelans) are going to get killed. But victory is about as likely as the Russians in Afghanistan.
"A short, victorious war" is a fantasy of incompetents everywhere. I can think of only one case where it actually happened**. (And that time the war wasn't a domestic political operation.) Mostly it proves to be neither short nor victorious.
** Gulf I, taking Kuwait back from Saddam. But generals competent enough to pull something like that off? Not likely to be put in charge by Trump or Hegseth. More likely to get sacked for insufficient toadying.
I've always known that most people can remember at least some of their dreams. But I've never done that. The closest I've come is the handful of times I've awakened full of adrenaline, apparently over something I dreamed. But with no clue what it might have been.
But in politicians, and especially those who aspire to lead the country, with all the enormous complications and problems that involves, I feel intelligence (or at least the lack of stupidity) are a necessity.
I think lack of stupidity is closer. The US Presidency has metastasized to the point that one critical skill combines knowing what you don't know, being able (and willing!) to select staff who collectively do know about those things, and then being able to take their advice. That's by no means everything the job requires. But lack of that skill is a recipe for disaster. As we are seeing.
I find it more likely that it will motivate flag officers to leave the military, to be replaced by officers who will have no problem when Trump/Vance declare martial law and order them to halt the 2028 federal elections.
I'mthinking that, to prove their bona fides loyalty, they would be told to do something sketchy outside the US -- no doubt they can find another war crime somewhere. Might start with the scenario you give, given how dumb they all are. But something more like the military equivalent of his cabinet meetings seems likely.
Whichever way it goes, they discover, when there is a big negative reaction, that Trump loyalty goes one way. Meaning they get thrown under the bus, too.
On the war crimes in the Caribbean, I note that Hegseth seems to have decided to throw the admiral, who he ordered to kill the survivors, under the bus. Perhaps this will motivate those folks in the military to not obey illegal orders. If not just because they are illegal, then to avoid being scapegoated for following those illegal orders.
Would ObWi would be better if there were many more threads, like LGM or BJ?
I realize that you weren't asking me. But IMHO anything over 1 per day is way excessive. There might be special cases. But in general there really aren't enough of us commenting here to make it necessary.
So I’m asking the UKians if the whole thing is a farce or reflects stubborn attitudes to anything on the left. Or both.
Or, just for completeness, stubborn attitudes of anyone on the left. Not saying that the left is particularly inflexible. Just that, given how far away we are, that's also a possibility.
The novel variations in winds around the pole are having consequences in lots of places. In California, we've had some unseasonably warm spells. But the serious issue is rain/snow. Lack of. Last winter we got enough to refill the reservoirs. But we're heading for no rain for at least the first half of December, and that's usually the month with the precipitation.
I guess Robinson has a national effort because it avoids the question of capitalism trying to harness geo-engineering, but it seems to me the latter is much more likely than the former.
For capitalism to harness geo-engineering, there would need to be some way, probably some fairly obvious way, to profit from it. Profit directly, not just from having a better world to live in generally. I'm not really seeing one -- probably lack of imagination on my part.
The actual alternative to a national effort would be a billionaire with an obsession, and a willingness to spend vast ssums of his own in pursuit of it. The example we have before us is SpaceX. Musk is obsessed with going to Mars, and was willing to personally fund a company to develop the technology so he could do that. Sure, it turned out he could sell launch services to NASA etc. But that was really just a happy unintended consequence as the technology developed.
Sonehow, when I read that the first time I took it to mean "people who buy the idiocy that the Heritage Foundation is peddling." That it meant something like the DAR didn't occur to me. And if it had, I've always thought the DAR was a bit daft (but mostly harmless). The reality is appalling.
I'm with cleek that "this sounds like every other fascist movement that has ever popped up " Which, considering who is loudly embracing the idea, is unsurprising. Scum.
the only way to have a unified state is to refine it into a homogenous, elemental society that is not vulnerable to any sort of othering
There is one (and, I would argue, only one) way to achieve a "society" which is not vulnerable to othering: become a hermit on a desert island. Because as soon as you have multiple people involved (which is what a society involves), othering is not only possible but relatively simple.
Doesn't mean it has to happen. But the risk is unavoidable. The most one can do is make othering socially unacceptable.
President Trump has urged the new Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, not to provoke China
The idea that Trump, Trump of all people, urging anyone not to be provocative? It simply boggles the mind. Next he'll be adminishing Americans to eat healthy, no doubt.
I had been aware that Witkoff got rich in real estate. What I had not known was how he got rich.
Basically, while Trump was making money by helping Russian oligarchs and mobsters launder money via New York apartment buildings, Witkoff was doing the same with commercial property there.
Suddenly, what we're seeing from the two of them becomes expliciable. Unsurprising even.
So what happens to nationalism if many more people are either moving from place to place or or at least relocating from where they were raised?
It depends...
If people are relocating across national boundaries, that could reduce nationalism, because they are not rooted anywhere. Say if they relocate because their job moves.
Or increase it, because they have moved on the basis of "I want to go to this particular place" (vs "I need to leave where I am.") See the immigrants to the US who embrace America to the point that they, or their children, volunteer for the US military.
On the other hand, there are those who relocate within a single country. It seems like they might embrace nationalism, simply because that is the level of group they still belong to. If you relocate from Alabama to Texas, you may not have strong ties to either. But you still have strong ties to the country overall.
There is doubtless a bit of racism in the mix. But I think by far the biggest part is simply that China is in a position to be an economic powerhouse rivaling the US. (And thus potentially a military peer.)
In contrast, Russia, at this point, is a second rate power. Or maybe third rate considering how they are faring against Ukraine. They've got nukes and (so far as we know) the technology to deliver them. But otherwise? They're a petrostate crossed with a kleptocracy. Even India is closer to being an economic peer than Russia.
The significant difference being that most members of Congress are fairly rabid when it comes to China. A lot of them may not care that much if Russia expands. But China is a whole different deal. If Trump makes a deal there, he may need to publish the Epstein Files as a distraction.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “Author, author?”
I have been assuming that he wrote his own posts on the assumption that even his core supporters in his top admin aren’t dumb enough to write that shit.
Seems like a bad assumption. At least based on the stuff they say in public on their own behalf.
"
It's been obvious for some time that many (most?, virtually all?) of the Truth Social posts are written by someone else. Too many long sentences, too many big words, too long, just flat out too many posts. Which also may explain the use of the third person, althouth Trump has taken to doing that when speaking.
At minimum, Trump rants about something, a minion writes it down, cleans up the wording, and enters it -- which I would guess is what happened, at least in part, with the Rob Reiner post. More often, someone else drafts a post, reads it to Trump to get his approval, and then posts it. And sometimes (for example the middle of the night posts) someone just echoes his style. Albeit with better syntax and a far bigger vocabulary than Trump ever uses.
On “Weekend music thread #08 How do you get to Carnagie Hall?”
When I was in college (late '60s), the Cal Band was still men only. I knew several women who had been in their (California) high school marching band, and were seriously miffed that they were excluded.
On ““We’re now poorer than Mississippi. It’s like Huckleberry Finn without the steamboats.””
So, she failed to bring prosperity, which Brexit was (in some universe, I suppose) certain to bring. And now the economic mess that Brexit predictably did bring is an existential threat to the nation, and it's all the other guys' fault.
Somehow, to an American, it all sounds so terribly familiar. Except that she isn't bringing billions into her personal account while the country goes down the tubes. Rather irritating for her, one might suspect.
On “Weekend music thread #08 How do you get to Carnagie Hall?”
the combining of roman letters and kanji is pretty fascinating and shows how integrated the writing systems are becoming
I have seen kanji and kana, of course. And romanji. But a combination of kanji and romanji is a new one. Perhaps it has emerged in the
yearsdecades since I studied the language....On “How are you sleeping?”
If your opinion-poll numbers are tanking, start a war you can win.
In the abstract and in principle, Venezuela should be an easy win. With these morons in charge, a whole lot of people (US troops as well as Venezuelans) are going to get killed. But victory is about as likely as the Russians in Afghanistan.
"A short, victorious war" is a fantasy of incompetents everywhere. I can think of only one case where it actually happened**. (And that time the war wasn't a domestic political operation.) Mostly it proves to be neither short nor victorious.
** Gulf I, taking Kuwait back from Saddam. But generals competent enough to pull something like that off? Not likely to be put in charge by Trump or Hegseth. More likely to get sacked for insufficient toadying.
"
I've always known that most people can remember at least some of their dreams. But I've never done that. The closest I've come is the handful of times I've awakened full of adrenaline, apparently over something I dreamed. But with no clue what it might have been.
On “It’s Your Party, you can cry if…”
I think Dubya might have managed it. Certainly he would have been far happier trying to run a whelk stand than he was being President.
Of course, the job he actually wanted was Commissioner of Baseball. Pity he didn't manage to get it instead.
"
I think lack of stupidity is closer. The US Presidency has metastasized to the point that one critical skill combines knowing what you don't know, being able (and willing!) to select staff who collectively do know about those things, and then being able to take their advice. That's by no means everything the job requires. But lack of that skill is a recipe for disaster. As we are seeing.
"
I'mthinking that, to prove their
bona fidesloyalty, they would be told to do something sketchy outside the US -- no doubt they can find another war crime somewhere. Might start with the scenario you give, given how dumb they all are. But something more like the military equivalent of his cabinet meetings seems likely.Whichever way it goes, they discover, when there is a big negative reaction, that Trump loyalty goes one way. Meaning they get thrown under the bus, too.
"
On the war crimes in the Caribbean, I note that Hegseth seems to have decided to throw the admiral, who he ordered to kill the survivors, under the bus. Perhaps this will motivate those folks in the military to not obey illegal orders. If not just because they are illegal, then to avoid being scapegoated for following those illegal orders.
On “Open Thread”
Would ObWi would be better if there were many more threads, like LGM or BJ?
I realize that you weren't asking me. But IMHO anything over 1 per day is way excessive. There might be special cases. But in general there really aren't enough of us commenting here to make it necessary.
On “It’s Your Party, you can cry if…”
So I’m asking the UKians if the whole thing is a farce or reflects stubborn attitudes to anything on the left. Or both.
Or, just for completeness, stubborn attitudes of anyone on the left. Not saying that the left is particularly inflexible. Just that, given how far away we are, that's also a possibility.
On “Open Thread”
The novel variations in winds around the pole are having consequences in lots of places. In California, we've had some unseasonably warm spells. But the serious issue is rain/snow. Lack of. Last winter we got enough to refill the reservoirs. But we're heading for no rain for at least the first half of December, and that's usually the month with the precipitation.
On “Am I missing something?”
To the degree that the Jewish community was self-governing during Roman occupation, the religious institutions *were* the government.
The Christian nationalists would be ecstatic to implement that model. Even if they reject the bits about caring for the poor.
"
Simply loving the image of Imperial Rome as an anarchist collective!
On “The surprising philosophy behind Palantir”
For capitalism to harness geo-engineering, there would need to be some way, probably some fairly obvious way, to profit from it. Profit directly, not just from having a better world to live in generally. I'm not really seeing one -- probably lack of imagination on my part.
The actual alternative to a national effort would be a billionaire with an obsession, and a willingness to spend vast ssums of his own in pursuit of it. The example we have before us is SpaceX. Musk is obsessed with going to Mars, and was willing to personally fund a company to develop the technology so he could do that. Sure, it turned out he could sell launch services to NASA etc. But that was really just a happy unintended consequence as the technology developed.
"
“Heritage Americans”
Sonehow, when I read that the first time I took it to mean "people who buy the idiocy that the Heritage Foundation is peddling." That it meant something like the DAR didn't occur to me. And if it had, I've always thought the DAR was a bit daft (but mostly harmless). The reality is appalling.
I'm with cleek that "this sounds like every other fascist movement that has ever popped up " Which, considering who is loudly embracing the idea, is unsurprising. Scum.
"
the only way to have a unified state is to refine it into a homogenous, elemental society that is not vulnerable to any sort of othering
There is one (and, I would argue, only one) way to achieve a "society" which is not vulnerable to othering: become a hermit on a desert island. Because as soon as you have multiple people involved (which is what a society involves), othering is not only possible but relatively simple.
Doesn't mean it has to happen. But the risk is unavoidable. The most one can do is make othering socially unacceptable.
On “An openish thread featuring the comedy stylings of Steve Witkoff”
President Trump has urged the new Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, not to provoke China
The idea that Trump, Trump of all people, urging anyone not to be provocative? It simply boggles the mind. Next he'll be adminishing Americans to eat healthy, no doubt.
"
I had been aware that Witkoff got rich in real estate. What I had not known was how he got rich.
Basically, while Trump was making money by helping Russian oligarchs and mobsters launder money via New York apartment buildings, Witkoff was doing the same with commercial property there.
Suddenly, what we're seeing from the two of them becomes expliciable. Unsurprising even.
"
GftNC, I thought sure you were channelling The Onion. Because it just seemed too over the top. But now it just seems creepy. And stomach turning.
Sorry to have doubted you.
On “Shabana burns the cakes”
So what happens to nationalism if many more people are either moving from place to place or or at least relocating from where they were raised?
It depends...
If people are relocating across national boundaries, that could reduce nationalism, because they are not rooted anywhere. Say if they relocate because their job moves.
Or increase it, because they have moved on the basis of "I want to go to this particular place" (vs "I need to leave where I am.") See the immigrants to the US who embrace America to the point that they, or their children, volunteer for the US military.
On the other hand, there are those who relocate within a single country. It seems like they might embrace nationalism, simply because that is the level of group they still belong to. If you relocate from Alabama to Texas, you may not have strong ties to either. But you still have strong ties to the country overall.
On “An openish thread featuring the comedy stylings of Steve Witkoff”
There is doubtless a bit of racism in the mix. But I think by far the biggest part is simply that China is in a position to be an economic powerhouse rivaling the US. (And thus potentially a military peer.)
In contrast, Russia, at this point, is a second rate power. Or maybe third rate considering how they are faring against Ukraine. They've got nukes and (so far as we know) the technology to deliver them. But otherwise? They're a petrostate crossed with a kleptocracy. Even India is closer to being an economic peer than Russia.
"
The Putin playbook is clearly an inspiration…
The significant difference being that most members of Congress are fairly rabid when it comes to China. A lot of them may not care that much if Russia expands. But China is a whole different deal. If Trump makes a deal there, he may need to publish the Epstein Files as a distraction.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.